About the show on Saturday Dec. 8th 2007 with Bonnie MaCallister and The Red Masque:

Got a little time at work here so I figured I'd post a little about Saturday's show at The Highwire Gallery. What an amazing time! Everything just worked so perfectly, everyone who performed and contributed their energy in being there. It truly felt like a piece of magical communication between the performers and the audience and all the artists who contributed to the art show. This month's show had consisted of artists from the community who had brought art from all over the city to hang. I was pleasantly suprised to see so many artists I recognized, including Ed Wilcox, Bonnie Macallister, Jamie Campbell... I found myself almost wishing I had dug out and dusted off some of my old photography pieces. Oh well...next time! The amazing thing about the art show was how wonderful all the work was and how well it all went together. We had a full house by 8pm and Bonnie asked me to play guitar for her. Bonnie looked gorgeous, in a brown dress and antlers. I am always stunned by Bonnies poetry. It appears simple but has so many layers of depth, it is honest and brave and spans multiple themes and her voice is rich and captivating. I love playing guitar with her. It just sort of flows out of me. People actually asked us if we had rehearsed it. I can't wait to do it again on the 22nd for our solstice party.

Next to perform was The Red Masque. I have been a fan and friend of them ever since I danced with them at a few shows. I was the Zombie girl. It was just an incredible experience because their music is so intense. This was the very first performance of the full Red Masque band in about a year. Their drummer Vonorn suffered some serious health issues but is finally back and seeming in great spirits. He made us laugh the whole night. They are also working with a new guitarist, Andy, who is just an incrediible guitarist and works so well with their sound. The Red Masque is a complete experience, with intricate song structures and fascinating mythological lyrices, tribal beats, medieval sounding vocals, unique instruments, interspersing periods of ambient improvisation with intense dark driving songs that change mood and go unexpected places. I wish I could describe The Red Masque better, but they are just an experience. They were in top form that night. They are also quite visually stunning, beautiful people dressed as if for a masquerade in dark reds and blacks. The addition of swirling projections created the perfect visual experience. Lynnette's vocals just seem to rise forever, from a quiet almost spoken tone to insane screeching to beautiful medieval sounding melodies. Once I saw Vonorn swinging something above his head, which made a sound and then beating the drum with it like a whip.

We were up next. I have less memory of our performance because when we perform I sort of go into a trance state and do not remember things in words, but we started out with a slow ambient improv. It just happened naturally and beautifully and felt very relaxed. Earlier Lisa had told me this guy Erin was going to do projections, but when I turned around and saw what he was doing, I was mesmerised. It was just so perfect with the music. It inspired us and in turn inspired the audience. I often feel like a Radio Eris show is an energy sharing experience with us and the people who are watching. Each time we play our songs a little differently but if we are inspired by the audience things just seem to flow in the right direction and we all get to go on a little journey. That's how it felt that night, and our friend Christoph mentioned a similar experience being at the show. We played Coffee, Virus, Motherless Child then went into the Beatles/John Lennon medley: Tomorrow Never Knows into Working Class Hero, which was cool because when we planned the set we didn't know it was the anniversary of John Lennon's death, but this ended up being our tribute to John Lennon and also to the spirit of John Van Zandt who loved the Beatles. We ended the set with Pale Lights and then opened it up to a jam. People were jamming till almost 1am the music pumping out of that tiny little gallery onto Frankford Ave. I couldn't have asked for a more magical evening. Jeff Thomas videotaped the whole thing and we are working on putting together a video of the evening.

-Lora

PS dont forget about the Eris Temple Winter Solstice Party on the 22nd.